Improvement in the mode of operating sewing-machines



J. PHIMlSTER.

Improvement in the Mode of Operating Sewing-Machines.

N0. 132,409. Patented 00:. 22,1872.-

Witnesses: Inventor:

AM. PHOTa-LITHaG/MF/l/C MII-XIOSEORIVES PHUCESS) UNITED STATES PATENT Orrron.

JOHN PHIMISTER, OF GALESBURG, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE OF OPERATING SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 132,409, dated October 22, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN PHIMISTER, of Galesburg, in the county of Knox, in the State of Illinois, have invented certain Improvements in Sewing-Machines, of which the following is a specification:

Nature and Objects of this Invention.

Description of the Accompanying Drawing.

In the accompanying drawing the same letter in each figure represents the same part.

Figure 1 is an elevation in perspective of the table, balance-wheel, crank, pitman, and treadle, with my propeller attached to the table and the pitman. Fig.2 is an elevation, with an end view of the same at right angles with Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an arm to extend below the table to which it is fastened, provided with an axis to receive the lever. Fig. 4 is a clasp attached to the pitman that connects the treadle with the balance-wheel, the clasp having an axis to receive the lower end of the pitman that connects with the lever of the operating attachment. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the lever and pitman to be attached.

General Description.

A is the top of the table. B is the lever of the attachment. 0n the table A the sewing mechanism is placed, having treadle c resting on rocking shaft m, and has balance and band wheel e on axis i and pitman q, that connects the treadle with the balance-wheel at h. B is the lever having its fulcrum or axis j at the lower end of hanger '0, more particularly shown in detail in Fig. 3. At the end of the short arm of the lever B is hinged or jointed in any proper manner pitman k, at the lower end of which it is connected, by means of clasp l and axis a, to the pitman q, the clasp being more particularly shown in detail in Fig. 4, and is adjustable for griping the pitman g at any point to secure an easy move- I ment of the machine, as a whole, by moving vertically the short arm of the lever B. The hanger O is fastened to the under side of the table so as to allow of the lever being operated lengthwise of the frame and table by a child or other person independently of the one that manages the material being sewed, or fastened so as to allow it to be operated at right angles with the frame and table by the person managing the sewing, partly by the treadle and partly by the lever, affording, in

one case, an entire relief of the severe and often unhealthy and dangerous labor of working the treadle and managing the sewing by the same person; and in the other case alternately working the machine by the lever or the treadle and lever, affording thus a change and relief often of the utmost consequence.

The pitman 7c is provided with holes near its lower end, reversed at right angles to each other to adapt it to'the using the lever longitudinally or at right angles with the table. I employ a spiral spring, p, between the table and the lever, or to the frame and lever, for the purpose of holding the lever when at rest in such a position as to bring the axis of the balance-wheel and the point of attaching the pitman q to the balance-wheel so nearly in a horizontal line as to relieve the starting the machine at the dead-points; also to afford an easy gliding movement past the dead points in its revolutions, greatly facilitating the quiet and certainty of the movement and giving greater durability to the machine,

I do not confine myself to any particular kind of spring or its location, nor to any form of lever, pitman, and connections, only that they best subserve as an important auxiliary in giving a sewing-machine the greatest practical value.

I claim as my invention-- 1. Lever B and pitman k, or their equivalent, when attached to a sewingmachine in any suitable manner, substantially as andfor the purposes herein set forth.

2. The combination of lever B, pitman k, spring p, and hanger 0, when connected together and used substantially as and for the purposes described.

JOHN PHIMISTER. Witnesses:

S. N. MAY, H. H. MAY. 

